7735/Knock, Knock, Growl

Knock, Knock, Growl
Date of Scene:	07 September 2021
Location:	Mystique's Quarters
Synopsis:	Clarice and Rahne come by to check on Mystique, there was a near death experience for a moment, but in the end only the wall was damaged.
Cast of Characters:	Rahne Sinclair, Raven Darkholme, Clarice Ferguson

---

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
"We're not gonnae leave," says a little voice at the door. It's closed, it's probably barred. It's useless to resist, the girl is relentless when someone's upset. Rahne Sinclair has the power. She will overcome this and make Raven better again through sheer power of will.

She also brought Clarice as backup. In case the door becomes an issue, and besides, Raven's actually kinda scary.

"Ah brought sleepin' bags an' tea. We're gonnae wait til ye let us in, or get used tae hearin' me talk through th' door."

Now, whether or not that level of attention is wished or not appears to be unasked. But Rahne's decided that Clarice is worried, and Clarice is worried because Raven is sad, and Rahne has one response to that.

"We brought cookies..."

Forever.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
It's been three days. Three days since Lydia went to Egypt, so three days that Mystique had been grumpy. Every once in a while she would emerge from her room to do some task or another, yell at someone not doing their tasks, and then she would return to her room. She's distracting herself with work, perhaps not the normal type of work, but anything that is distracting, especially since the GPS locator went blank on day two.

She can hear Rahne outside the door, just barely, she would have to have Erik thicken her walls with a little more sound resistance, but right now... she could hear Rahne outside the door.

"Clarice," she tone is warning through the intercom. "Collect the pup and leave."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "These are the wrong things, Rahne," Clarice remarks, perhaps prompted by Mystique's snark. There's some amusement in her tone even though - yes. She is concerned. She presses the button for the speaker before remarking, "We brought //whiskey and grenadine.//" She eyes Rahne for a moment before adding, "And cookies, apparently." Not that cookies were a bad thing, they're just not really something she could consider bringing to comfort Mystique.
    At the moment, Clarice leans casually up against the wall beside Mystique's door - glaring back at anyone who dares to shoot looks their way as they pass in the hall. This is none of //their// business - and if they have any intelligence, they'll stay well clear of it all.
    Most off them are more than happy to stay clear of Mystique right now.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne is saying, "Never gonna leaaaaave," in a singsong voice, as she sets up camp. She grins at Clarice, who's clearly on board with this. She has literally set up camp, too. She has a little candle setup, with a place to wash your hands, and a bed, and what looks like instant noodles with chopsticks and a slice of cheese to make it edible.

"Knew you'd have th' right stuff," she says to Clarice as she puts down her yoga mat. "Think she'll mind if we drink some o' it without 'er?" She pauses, then pulls out her irish cream bottle and sloshes it grinningly.

Then she leans her head against the wall, and calls out, "Might have tae pee on th' wall a little. But ah'll be a wolf when ah do it."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique is staring at her computer screen but not seeing it, what she sees is this red haze around the corners of her eyes. Standing up, first she punches the wall, then she walks over to the door and slides the door open just enough to be seen.

"Do you want to die?" She asks, clearly seriously, and looking at Rahne, then over to Clarice. "Cause I can make it happen. What the fuck do you want?!"

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "You're pushing a little too hard, Rahne," Clarice murmurs quietly, caution in her tone - before a few moments later - the door slides up.
    "I want to sit down and have a whiskey, and a grenadine," she offers. "Once a day."
    So she knows she's not alone.
    Can we come in... boss?" It's odd, that she only realizes in //this moment// how she's been using that word, and it's reflected on her features - a momentarily surprised and speculative expression, before she returns her attention to the task at hand.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
The door's opening, so Rahne stands up! She shifts to hybrid form and grins, glancing at Clarice enthusiastically, a 'it's working!' look on her face. She really really wants this to go well. Her friends should not be sad.

So it's that urge that has her try to lick Raven's face when she sticks it out the entrance.

Thus making her come as close as she'll ever get to death on the Asteroid, even in the coma.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
There is only so much that the cobalt mutant can take, only so many things she can deal with at one time. Running the Brotherhood was a twenty-four/seven thing, it took precedence over everything else on most days, but we add to this that Lydia is in Egypt and her plate was full. So when Rahne made to lick her, there was only one reaction, and it was so quick that blink and you miss it... a back flip into her own room as two knives came out of her boots and were thrown at a wall away from the door to she couldn't use them on anyone.

The door remained open, but Mystique was headed for her bedroom. What Clarice and Rahne did now was on them, but Rahne has in fact been seconds from having a knife shoved in her chest.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice tries to put her hand on Rahne's shoulder to slow and stop her - but when Mystique goes into that flip to open space between her and Rahne, and she spots that glint of metal? She reacts quickly, blinking out - and immediately appearing in front of Rahne. When the knives slam into the wall, and Mystique storms off into the bedroom, for the first time Rahne finds herself on the receiving end of an angry glare from Clarice.
    "You're pushing too //hard,// Rahne," she hisses out more forcefully. "That's not going to work." Posture stiff - the necks of two bottle still held in her off hand, she makes her way towards the bedroom door, pausing beside it and remaining silent for a few moments.
    "Boss?" she says quietly. "I'm sorry. That was... a mistake. It won't happen again."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne doesn't come in when Clarice does. She catches that she screwed up, but she's been so impulsive lately. It's like, she acts before she thinks. So she looks in, hoping that Clarice can fix this, and doesn't give up. We'll fix Raven, we will.

Sometimes you gotta let someone else take point, though.

"I'm soooorryyy," she whispers through the cracked open doorway. Not coming in.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
The bedroom is smaller, but large enough to pace and that's what she's doing, pacing it out as she thought, 'That was close, too close, what the hell was she thinking? It was Rahne.... /RAHNE/... a wonderful, albeit sometimes annoying, lovely young woman. She wasn't trying to be annoying, she was trying to help, the fuck is wrong with you Raven?!' The wall gets punched again, the only self punishment that has ever worked to remind herself how stupid some things she does are. One more punch, then she finally stops and closes her eyes, attempting to center. Two deep breaths and she walks over to the door and opens it.

"Rahne's herself," she states, perhaps a little edge to her tone. "She's just being herself. I'm just not in a good place, that's all." She glances to the front door then looks back to Clarice. "I'm fine, really. Yes, I'm stressing, I'm pissed, and I want to punch things regularly, but I'm fine."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice glances back towards Rahne - her expression tense, and still a little angry, before it finally softens into a small smile.
    Her gaze turns back towards the bedroom door just as it starts to slide open, as she tries to school her expression into a more neutral one. "I get that - I do. I was a bit frantic when Rahne was missing, and that was even before..." Before either of them really understood what they were feeling.
    "Look, we can go down to the training room - and murder the shit out of some holographic projects, yeah?" she suggests. "Then come back here and have a whiskey and a grenadine. Every day. That's my prescription."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne still hasn't come in. She does slowly stick a hand through the door, with her one bottle of her favourite irish cream in it, as a peace offering. Her hand is of a medium level of fuzziness, but she can be seen peeking through the door.

"Also...could y' teach me t' throw like thet?"

She never considered Raven to be a good knife coach. Huh.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Looking past Clarice, Mystique says plainly, "Come in Rahne." Then slides the bedroom door open the rest of the way. Walking past Rahne she walks over to the knives and picks them up, but instead of putting them in her boots, she adds them back to the HUGE collection of daggers and knives in one of the display cases.

"Clarice, the idea of punching shit dead, or shooting it, or stabbing it repeatedly... I'm not supposed to rely on that, remember?" She then says before walking to her computer chair and sitting. There is another couple of chairs in the room, nothing fancy, nothing overly welcoming, but they're there.

"The GPS went blank," she then admits to them both. "Yesterday... I should be searching that entire desert, but... she has to know I trust her. I don't trust THEM, but I trust her."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "We're allowed to kill as many holograms as we want," Clarice answers simply. "And I'd offer to take you down to my island, but I don't think..." that silence, and solitude, would make things //better//.
    She makes her way over to Mystique's desk, perching herself on the edge of it - close, without being so near as to invade her perrsonal space. "Look, if I don't make some effort to check in on you, and make sure you know you're not alone... well. When Lydia comes back, she'll be furious with me, yeah? I'm just covering my ass here."
    She flashes Mystique a smile, trusting everyone in this room to know that isn't the full truth of it. A moment later, she sets the two bottles down on the surface of the desk without another word.
    Hrm.She brought the bottles - but not glasses, she suddenly realizes.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
"Well, I can do et," Rahne says, still in the door frame. "Clary, send me to th' place." Just like that. No preparation, no idea what she's getting into. It's a friend, so she's going.

No question. "Desert. Okay, I can handle et." she taps her nose meaningfully, then nods.

"Save me some o' th' cream."

She knows Lydia's scent. So, why not?

Raven Darkholme has posed:
"No," Mystique says immediately, no hesitation, no pause. "No one is going looking." She looks from Rahne to Clarice. "No one.

She closes her eyes for a moment then says, "You brought alcohol, right? I think we need it, I know I do."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "No one's going looking," Clarice agrees. ...yet.
    "I brought whiskey," she agrees, giving the two bottles a nudge. "But I forgot the cups," she admits with a wry smile. "We could just pour the two together and pass the bottle? And get well and truly soused. I'll try not to puke on your floor."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Opening the drawer of the desk, Mystique pulls out two paper cups from the stack she keeps in there. "I'm packing, you pour."

Turning in her chair slightly she looks over at Lydia's desk. "Lydia really wants this," she says to the room, and herself. Clarice just gets to hear it. "I get it, it's something of her own, something she didn't expect to happen or have. She trusted Isabella enough to do it, so I gotta just trust enough to get through this... but if I don't her from her tomorrow..."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I'll help anyway you need, boss," Clarice agrees quietly, as she pours the whiskey, with a healthy splash of the sweet syrup, into the two glasses. Yup - she's going to try it Mystique's way.
    "You know I'm here for you. For both of you. Hell, Cynthia'd come too - if we'd let her." She doesn't intend to let her.
    She picks up her paper cup, gently knocking it against Mystique's as she adds, "To Lydia's return. Yeah? I'm going to steer clear of this room for a solid two days after she's back, I think."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
There is no hesitation in collecting the paper cup by Mystique, she's been avoiding alcohol for a very specific reason, but a couple of drinks wouldn't kill her.

When the cups are knocked together she actually says, "Tink" then nods to Clarice's toast. "Good toast, and good idea." She holds the cup up then takes a large drink.

"Thank you, Clarice," she then mutters, licking her lips off. "For... being you."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "That'll never change... boss." Clarice reaches out with one hand then - letting it rest on Mystique's arm for a five-count, before it drops away again. After a sip from her glass she adds, "When Lydia comes back - you want me to handle all the business for a day?"
    Personally - she thinks it would be good for Mystique and Lydia to have that time to decompress, and be with one another.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Another drink, slightly smaller. She wants to drink, but she doesn't want drunk... drunk would be bad right now.

"Let me see about that when Lydia is home," Mystique replies with a sigh. "I'm all for it of course, but who the hell knows how she will be or where her head will be when she gets back. This is a big deal for her, and she was so excited for this opportunity." She looks up and over to Clarice, "I'm excited for her too, I just can't shake the feeling something will happen.... but that's on me, not her."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I mean, I don't know if this will help at all... But it makes me a little anxious, too," Clarice admits, giving Mystique a tight smile. "I know it's a thousand times worse for you - but I don't //like// this. I don't like that she's not allowed to check in with us. That we can't monitor her wellbeing in any way... I care about Lydia, and I don't like this."
    She takes a sip of her drink before adding, "But I hope she's having a wonderful time, and she'll come back with the most amazing stories to tell us."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique stands up to walk over and grab one of the chairs then walks back over and sits it by Clarice so she has some place to sit down.

"I know you're worried too," she says once she's sitting again. "But let's face it, in the normal world those things you just listed, they aren't something people do. We do it because we live in a constant state of paranoia, but it's not normal... for normal people. Maybe we're just too paranoid, maybe we just need to chill the fuck out."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Speaking of chill.

Rahne is still at the door. She's listening, she's smiling, and she's eating those cookies that she brought as bribery tools. She has a smile on her face, and she keeps thinking to herself all the good things. We did it. Raven needed this. She's opening up. She's not dying inside. I knew Clarice could do it. Totally why I brought her.

I am so going to get fat on these. Ah well. Cookies are yummy. I can do an extra lap around the track. Do we have a track? I'm silly. People should be more silly, don't you think, God?

God does not answer. I mean, it's possible, but what would he say?

Of course cookies are good.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Yeah, well, in the 'real world' - with cellphones and all - how often are people completely unreachable anymore?" she asks, giving a shrug of her shoulders. "I mean, yeah, it was different when you were younger. It was normal //then//. It's not normal now." Clarice gives Mystique an amused look for fetching her a chair - and shifts into it, leaning her shoulder against the desk as she adds, "I mean, Rahne went out of touch for a day, in New Zealand, and I panicked." ...and she was right.
    She quickly adds, "But I mean - that wasn't planned. Her going out of contact like that, you know? This is different."
    Right.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique smirks at Clarice. "Good comparison there, thanks," she comments.

Looking over at the door and says, "Rahne, really, you can come in. No need to sit out there and eat all the cookies, Clarice might want one."

She takes a smaller sip from her paper cup of alcohol, how white trash is she being right now. "It's normal now as well Clarice, not everyone has cell phones, I mean a lot of people do, but not everyone."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
"I'm good," Rahne calls in, making little puppets with her cookies. She took a bite out of one, and now it's pac-man, and she's got little ghosties that she's chasing around the candle she set up and then there's a rattling noise and an "and now I'm on fire, sheesh."

Then a splashing sound, and the water fountain in the hall being used.

Looks like the ghosts got away this time.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Everyone I know has a phone," Clarice answers, giving a shrug. "...who do you know who doesn't have a phone?" she asks in a curious tone, turning her attention towards Rahne and her play with the cookies in the hallway.
    She gives Raven a 'sometimes, I don't get it either' look.
    "Come on out of the hallway before you turn the asteroid down. Raven might even be able to tolerate a hug right now. ... maybe. She if she knows it's coming."
    She gives Mystique a questioning look - since, honestly, she's not entirely certain if she can or not.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique shrugs and nods at the same time when Clarice looks at her, but says toward Rahne, "Yeah, I wouldn't kill you this time."

Looking back to Clarice she adds, "I know a couple of people without cell phone, still call them at work or at home, but the truth is, not everyone had them. Some people still can't afford them."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne peeks in. "I ken tha' one of th' Avengers can't us a celphone. Microwave powers." She seems to have douses her face in the water fountain, and there's a little strip of blackened fur.

She comes in though, and places a very hesitant but heartfelt hug on Mystique. Just a little one. Little arms, humongous heart.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "You just can't surprise Raven with affection," Clarice remarks in a wry tone.
    Unless, she presumes, you're Lydia.
    She leans in as well, wrapping one arm around Rahne, but pressing her shoulder into Mystique's so she can be present as well. She doesn't linger too long, though, before she straightens up and finishes off the rest of her glass of whiskey. "I love you both, you know," she remarks almost casually. "I'd go to the ends of the Earth for either one of you."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
With the knowledge it was coming, Mystique takes the hug and gasp, returns it. "Thanks kid," she offers before letting Rahne go.

"No, not the ends of the earth Clarice, just the desert, if she doesn't contact me tomorrow." She takes the last drink from her own cup and sets it on the desk. "I'm willing to give two days with GPS signal, not three."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
She beams, Rahne does, and then she pulls a cookie out from behind her back. "I ate the rest," she says, breaking it in half and offering half to each of them. "I might be gettin' fat. So take it before I eat 'em all, official." Unless you count the broken ones, and the ones that missed her mouth, and the ones she threw down the hall to see if they'd roll, and...

Wait, did I actually eat any cookies?

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Personally, I think a desert counts as the end of the earth. But then again, so does my island, I imagine." Clarice accepts the cookie-half Rahne offers, an amused smile on her features, then gives a gentle tug to try to pull Rahne towards and into her lap.
    "Hopefully she contacts us soon, though. I really want to hear about her trip." She's determined to put a positive spin on this - as much as she can. Because it's either that or go mad herself.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique also accepts the half cookie, with a half smile, half smirk. "Thanks," she offers, then pops it in her mouth. It doesn't matter if it was one rolled down the hall or not, she wastes nothing.

"Egyptian desert..." she closes her eyes again. "If I apply logic, there's likely just a jammer where she is. It's a secret location after all, that's why she had to go alone... but fuck if that doesn't stress me out."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
"Seriously, I could jes, you know. Wolf." Rahne makes a little walking motion with her hand, then shrugs. "Nobody'd ever suspect." She flops on the floor, finding a way to become comfortable, and stretches out. She looks at the holes in the walls left by the thrown knives earlier, and smiles. Yes, smiles. No idea.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "That's not up to us, Rahne," Clarice answers simply. "It's between Lydia and Raven, no matter how uncomfortable the situation makes any of us." Because there are just some lines it's just not safe to cross. She takes a few more nibbles of her cookie before asking, "Can you even track a scene across shifting sands? Or is that impression of a desert incorrect?"

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique shakes her head, "Rahne, the wolves in Egypt look /way/ different than you do as a wolf. You'd stand out like a Rottweiler in a pack of Dobermans... literally. You are large, heftier in structure, even if you're small. The wolves there are much thinner, more like jackals."

She nods to Clarice now. "Constantly shifting, and a lot of dunes for them to blow around. I know her last location, it's marked on the map, one more day... then I'll decide."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne's quiet for a moment, but her eyes are different from normal. She shifts in close to Clarice, but...something. She doesn't argue. Until she does, though she's not so much arguing, as you know. Explaining? Her tone is firm, but she doesn't want to pressure.

"Fittin' in...thaur be tricks t' that. Be harder for me, but y'know. Nae impossible, especially wi' a bit o' help. An yes, Clary. Ah be that good."

It's never come up, but she's been training under Wolverine at tracking for five years. Her mutation makes her far more sensitive than any natural wolf. She just doesn't like to push. Unless Lydia's life is at stake.

"Ah'll respect th' decision. But yes. Ah can do et."

She doesn't move to leave, or to argue. She just wants the people that she cares about to understand her. I'm not a child. I'm a hunter.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice wraps her arms around Rahne, resting her head against the other woman. "If you say you can - then I believe you. We all need to know our own limitations, yeah? And trust each other to know them." She lets out a sigh as she adds, "But by the same standard, Lydia asked us to trust her to do this." And so they have to trust her to do that. Even if it hurts. She nuzzles her cheek against Rahne's back as she adds, "If we do need to track her, though, we'll need you." Rahne would doubtlessly be a better choice for a job like this - rather than Mister Creed.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique picks up the whiskey and pours more into the paper cup, then some more of the syrup. Picking up the cup she swirls it to mix it, then looks over at the sickly adorable couple standing in her room.

"If we have to go, Rahne," she starts. "Then yes, we'll need your nose... but there might be violence, and I don't know where you landed on handling that sort of thing." She glances to Clarice for a moment. "If you can't handle it, that's fine, you can look the other way."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne doesn't answer this time. She snuggles in close, and wonders herself where she's landing on that topic.

She looks at her left hand, the claws there to be used. She thinks about clawing someone who's before her, and cringes. Then she considers if that person were about to harm Lydia, and the mental landscape changes.

She did not use to be able to ask the question. What is happening to me?

"Ah'm changing," Rahne says, softly. Then she clings to Clarice a little harder.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "We all change," Clarice answers Rahne quietly, wrapping both arms around the slender woman comfortingly. "But I will be here for you," she promises. "I haven't killed anyone in- well. Since you were in a coma." Aside from the guy she threw into an electrified door.
    She hadn't killed anyone //intentionally// in all that while, anyways. ...she's going to have to take Mister Creed out on a hunt soon, or he might find his own prey, she realizes.
    She frees one of her hands to lift Rahne's claws to her lips, giving them a gentle kiss. "This is a part of you. And however you choose to use them - you'll always have me. Yeah?"

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique turns herself back toward her computer, sipping her drink once more then setting it down.

"Everyone goes through changes Rahne," she offers, not looking at them at this point. "Look at me, used to set shit on fire or blow it up, don't do that any more. I don't even kill people any more, and I really want to, trust me... I want to."

Flipping the monitor on, she starts typing. "I'm fine you two, go about your evening, and thanks."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne isn't sure how to explain. But the wolf inside of her explains. Not to Clarice, and not to Mystique. To Rahne, as she smiles in confusion.

We are one, you and I. We won't kill, unless we mean it. And if we mean it, we kill for real.
I understand.
Good.
Does this mean I'm evil?
No. It means we're Rahne Sinclair, and we are not separate. I love you, Rahne.
I love you, wolf.

"Tha' was easy," Rahne lies. It only took her six years to accomplish. And she smiles, turning to leave. But she pulls her packmate with her, grinning. Let's play.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice does climb to her feet - but she doesn't leave immediately. She hugs Mystique again, resting her head on the woman's shoulder for a moment. "Love you, boss," she murmurs.
    Then she straightens, reclaiming the two bottles as she adds, "I'll stop by again tomorrow." Only then does she let Rahne draw her towards the door. "That was easy?" she asks as they step outside - to eye the mess in the hallway. She lets out an exagerated sigh. "Should I start blinking all of this back to my quarters?" she asks - as the door to Mystique's quarters slides shut halfway through the question.